KSYM DJ spinning late-night brutal music

KSYM’s Thursday Night Metal Show is San Antonio’s premiere spot for brutal rock music.
“The intent of the show is to lay all the brutal music that people may not know about — the older bands that are still alive and kicking and even some local bands,” radio-television-broadcasting sophomore Marcus DeLeon, disc jockey for the “nonmainstream” show, said in an interview Nov. 21.
The show, which airs 11 p.m.-2 a.m. on the campus radio station at 90.1 FM, has been broadcasting 14 years, making it one of the longest running shows on KSYM.
Mega Marcus has been a DJ since April.
“In the simplest terms, it’s scary to the outside listener,” DeLeon said about the brutal and extreme music.
But even though the majority of the music played has vocals that cannot be heard, DeLeon said the lyrics sometimes convey positive messages.
“Brutal is pulsating, combat rhythms — just a bunch of double bass drumming.”
DeLeon’s favorite bands are three older bands and three newer ones. Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica are of the older group, and Gojira, Goatwhore and The Ocean are the newer bands he favors.
On the show, however, DeLeon tries not to play much of the older bands because “they don’t need any help (and) the show stays consistent because San Antonio loves it. … Without ‘Thursday Night Metal Show,’ San Antonio has no outlet for metal music,” DeLeon said.
Though he has a lot of fun working as a DJ, DeLeon knows that his show is not about him, but the music he plays.
“The music speaks for itself, not the DJ,” he said.
“But other radio stations won’t play it because they are scared of the music, the message and that people will complain because it’s so brutal.”
Aside from being a disc jockey, DeLeon is the assistant to the vice president of promotions at Courtland Records, the label the music business program created.
He also plays guitar in a band called Fumar, drums and vocals in another band called Smell the Gravel, and he hopes to start a record label, promotions and publishing company after graduation.
DeLeon said the extras he does for the metal show have opened other opportunities with bands while helping promote KSYM.
“I pass out fliers, talk to the band’s fans and ask them what they like and dislike about the show,” he said. “Most of the time I like to get voice drops with a recorder or have the band call my house to leave a message to put on the radio. Not one of the other DJs do that.”
DeLeon wants to promote local bands as much as major label bands.
He accepts “high production, professionally recorded local bands.”
“If it’s brutal and extreme, I’ll play it,” he said.
CDs can be dropped off at KSYM’s office on the second floor of Longwith Radio-Television and Film Building.